


lion dancing

by Anna_Blossom



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Attempt at Action, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Lion Dance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 14:37:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17706137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Blossom/pseuds/Anna_Blossom
Summary: “Shake your butt, brother. It looks more realistic like that.”Hanzo grumbles underneath his breath, but does it anyway, sighing when he hears a few children laugh in delight. He’s bent over like this, hands on his brother’s hips while he shakes his ass.If only father could see him now.((The Shimada brothers try lion dancing to save a crucial witness from a crime lord who wants him dead))





	lion dancing

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Chinese and anything written in this fic is based on stock knowledge, my limited experience, and a whole lotta research.
> 
> happy belated lunar new year :)

“We are not dancing as a rainbow lion.”

Hanzo begins pulling on his pants, black and frilled with gold, ignoring his brother’s groans behind him.

They’re supposed to match with the lion’s fur, and while black isn’t his preferred color, Hanzo has to admit that there’s something appealing about it. He remembers seeing the lion costume for the first time, the heavy cloth strikingly dark against the gold trims and frills along the details.

The mirror shone. Polished enough to ward off evil, if he were to believe in myths.

He feels pinpricks of static along his tattooed arm, admonishment from the _myths_ residing in his body. He smiles to himself.

“But Han _zo_ ,” Genji says, prolonging the last syllable of his name to an irritably long amount of time. “We’re going to be the main event in this parade.”

“We’re going to be the main event regardless of the lion’s color. Now hurry up and put this on,” Hanzo tosses the other pair over his shoulder before focusing on hiding his tattoo with a sleek black arm sleeve. “The parade will begin soon.”

There’s a knock on the door, three sharp taps, before Hana opens it and pokes her head through. She gives them a two-fingered salute. “Five minutes ‘til seven. Parade’s starting soon. You guys ready to go?” she asks, speaking Japanese just as easily as she does Korean.

“We’ll be out in a moment,” Hanzo says, donning a black facemask. To hide his face during the lifts. “Genji, are you almost ready?”

He turns around to see Genji and Hana both staring at the pair of traditional cloth slippers on the floor, topped with black fluff.

“I don’t think these’ll fit me,” Genji muses while Hana walks in and around him to pick one up.

“These will barely fit _me_ ,” she says, turning it around in her hand. “Think it’ll be noticeable if you go without?”

“Ah, excuse me,” a hesitant voice says from the doorway, and they all turn to look at the newcomer. He’s a small man, but lean in musculature. He gives them a shy smile that makes his eyes squint even more. Accented Japanese slips from his lips quietly as he says, “We took the liberty of finding a pair for the both of you.”

“Thank you, Liu-san,” Hanzo says, taking the shoes from him with a small bow and handing a pair over to Genji.

Liu bows back, before rubbing the back of his head with a small laugh. “On the contrary, Shimada-san, it is I who should be thanking you for taking on my request to push through with the parade. You did not have to go through all this.”

“But it is your life on the line,” Genji says, testing the shoes with a few steps, before looking up at them. “You are a brave man, Liu-san, to go against dangerous, powerful men. Your testimony against them will help many more than you know. That is why we are willing to help you.”

“I, ah,” he smiles once more, squirming at Genji’s words. “I am unused to such praise. Thank you. But… are you sure you want to perform the lion dance? My cousin and I are still willing to take over—”

Genji shakes his head. “This parade is there best chance at getting you, Liu-san. It’ll be safer if we perform in your stead.”

“But—"

“Don’t worry about it,” Hana slaps Liu on the back with a grin. “They got it covered. Ah, hold on.”

She brings up a hand to her comm, reverting back to English.

“D.Va here… Yeah, Liu’s here with me… Uh-huh,” she nods at Hanzo, before gesturing to Liu to follow her out. “Got it. Escorting him there now. D.Va out.”

The moment her hand drops, Hanzo barely catches her change in posture. There’s a tense line to her form, eyes sharp and alert. A soldier with a mission.

She catches him staring and winks.

“It’s party time!”

\--

“Shake your butt, brother. It looks more realistic like that.”

Hanzo grumbles underneath his breath, but does it anyway, sighing when he hears a few children laugh in delight. He’s bent over like this, hands on his brother’s hips while he shakes his ass.

If only father could see him now.

“Genji, hurry up,” he says, watching his brother tear lettuce in front of him before throwing it out of the mouth and stowing away the red envelope into the back of his waistband.

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Genji leads them away, and Hanzo follows. Two steps, then one. The drums slow, and so do they. It beats once, twice, and the two of them take one step for every beat. The tempo picks up with the clashing of gongs and Genji nods at Hanzo over his shoulder.

They jump forward together, and when they hit the ground with bent knees, Hanzo lifts Genji up and overhead by the hips, barely suppressing a scowl when he nearly gets kicked in the face by an errant foot as his brother puppets the lion head above him.

He scans the crowd, taking advantage of the lack of cloth obscuring his view.

It’s a lively night. Dozens of brightly dressed individuals stand on the sidewalk to spectate and to celebrate. There’re paper lanterns hanging from lampposts and food stalls smelling of freshly cooked cuisine.

Amongst the rows of people watching, he spots Mei and McCree walking alongside the parade, arms linked.

Mei fits in with the crowd easily, with her loose red _ruqun_ and her hair done up. Hanzo knows she didn’t come unarmed, but even from this distance, he knows there is no way she could’ve hidden her bulky weapon underneath that cloth. Perhaps, he muses to himself, she is armed with throwing sticks. The bright red sticks in her hair could easily kill a man if thrown with enough force and in the right area. Not that Mei would ever do that.

Shaking his thoughts free of murder, he turns his attention to McCree. Dressed in a black _changshan_ , hair tied back and beard trimmed, he almost looks like any other unassuming American in Chinatown. A tourist trying his best to celebrate with his girlfriend.

McCree must’ve seen him looking, because he shoots him a wink not a second later.

He resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“Hanzo, I’m pretty sure lions aren’t supposed to stay upright this long.”

With a sigh, Hanzo puts Genji down, allowing them to move forward.

The parade goes on. The band continues playing without pause, drums banging and cymbals clashing in time with their steps. Some ten minutes later, when Hanzo’s starting to feel the ache in his lower back from crouching over for far too long, he hears a familiar voice calling out for that “pretty black lion” to their left.

“Genji.”

“I got it.”

There’s a bench on the sidewalk as they move towards the audience. Genji jumps over it easily, Hanzo trailing behind without missing a step. They dance towards McCree, and Hanzo hears children in the audience shriek with delight as they get closer.

“Got this for ya,” Hanzo hears him say over the din of the music, and he watches as Genji takes the lettuce through the lion’s mouth. When he looks down towards the ground once more, McCree’s shoes are already gone from his line of sight.

Genji takes the envelope tied around the vegetable and hands it to Hanzo, the movement hidden by cloth, before ripping the lettuce apart.

Hanzo tears open the envelope and looks inside just as quickly. Two _kau cim_ sticks. Numbers one and two.

“Liu has arrived at the safehouse,” he says, interpreting the code and tucking the envelope into Genji’s waistband in front of him alongside the other envelopes they’ve collected. “No hostiles sighted so far, but they’ve spotted suspicious movement and have moved to investigate.”

Genji nods, leading them into a small circle while he looks through the mouth. “So far so good. Just a few blocks more and we’ll reach the park for the exhibit. They’ve already got the posts set up and— wait. Is there supposed to be a red lion following after us?”

“What?”

“Red and gold. Take a look.”

Hanzo carries Genji overhead once more, spinning them around in a lazy circle. His eyes catch sight of said red lion, several meters away.

Misshapen. That’s the first word that comes into mind when he sees it. The person at the tail is obviously much bigger than the one in front. There is a palpable difference between the thickness of their legs as well, like toothpicks compared to tree trunks.

Lantern light gleams off the cracked mirror on its forehead.

He looks for McCree and Mei in the crowd, frowning when he doesn’t see either. He does, however, catch sight of the band’s distracted glances towards the red lion before he puts Genji back down.

“I do not recognize it,” he says as they continue on with the choreography. “The band appears to be confused by its appearance as well. Perhaps it is a last-minute addition from—?”

“I don’t think so! Left!”

Genji jumps and rolls to the side, leaving Hanzo no choice but to follow, just in time to avoid the red lion as it bull rushes towards them with surprising speed.

Astonished gasps fill the air as they roll back up on their feet, the lion costume miraculously still in place. The crowd starts cheering and clapping.

“They think it part of the performance,” Hanzo says warily, stepping in time with Genji as they and the red lion circle each other slowly.

There’s a pause from the band, before a hesitant _bum_ sounds out from the drum. The crowd murmurs with anticipation.

_Bum… bum… bum… bum…_

The red lion’s mouth opens slightly, and Hanzo catches a glimpse of white hair and large metal hands on slim hips.

“Genji,” he says, wary. “We have to run.”

_Bum… bum… bum… bum…_

“We can’t give away that Liu isn’t here, but we can’t let them know who we are either. They might go for the band or the audience. Did you see McCree or Mei?”

_Bum-bum… bum-bum…_

“No,” Hanzo pauses, narrowing his eyes when he catches Genji looking over towards him, almost certainly smirking beneath his faceplate. “Whatever it is you are planning…”

_Bum-bum… bum-bum…_

“The tail has to follow the head, brother,” Genji singsongs, motioning for Hanzo to straighten up and peer through the costume’s mouth, “and the head plans to improvise an escape route. See that balcony?”

_Bum-bum, bum-bum_

Hanzo follows his finger towards a building a few blocks down the street, red paint scraping off by itself. He instinctively begins creating a route in his mind: through the outdoor café, on top of that hovercar, across park on the raised posts—

“The building’s abandoned, and I can figure out a route to get there without putting any civilians in harm’s way. Once we’re in, we’ll ditch the costume and use the rooftops. Alright?”

Hanzo meets his gaze through the visor for a brief moment, before letting out a sigh. He crouches down, fisting his hands on Genji’s waistband once more. “Please refrain from anything foolish.”

_Bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum_

Genji laughs, still following the red lion’s pace as they continue circling.

“Understood, brother.”

The drumbeat picks up, and Hanzo feels the adrenaline beginning to rush in his system. Muscles tense. Keeps his ears open for his brother’s signal.

_Bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum_

He takes a breath, blocking out all unnecessary sound until his mind quietens.

The dragons rumble underneath skin.

Ready to fly.

_BUM!_

Cymbals crash together like sudden thunder, and Genji dashes to the side lightning-quick.

The red lion tries to block them off, but Genji swerves and jumps onto a nearby café table. Hanzo moves with him, not letting go. His foot nearly catches on something, and when he looks down, he gets an idea.

“The chair!”

Genji glances downwards, and a split-second later, he hooks his foot through the open backrest, using his leg to toss it in the air. Hanzo follows up, momentarily letting go to strike it towards the red lion with a turning kick.

The red lion twists, the wooden chair breaking against the solid form of the person manning the tail. When they turn around once more, Hanzo sees the glint of a gun barrel peeking through the lion’s mouth.

“Down!”

He pulls Genji down by the waist, forcing him to crouch just as a shot breaks part of the wall behind them. They hear shouts from the audience, bewildered but not panicking yet.

They jump from table to table, using the occasional chair as a foothold as the red lion begins running to follow. There’s yelling from underneath the costume.

“Lift!” Genji shouts, and Hanzo does. Genji plants one foot on top of a silver hovercar, before jumping towards the top of one of the lampposts. He plants both feet firmly on the ladder rests, not moving as Hanzo pulls himself up using his grip on Genji’s waist. “Behind you!”

Another loud clap of thunder as a bullet whizzes past Hanzo’s left, missing him by inches. He looks back, sees the red lion following after them with a vengeance.

Now solely relying on its back legs to move forward, they could clearly see the gigantic omnic manning the tail, carrying the other person overheard while charging forward with unnatural speed.

Hanzo kicks off from the pole, vaulting over Genji’s head and into a flip and never once letting go. Genji flips forward after, landing a few feet in front of him seconds after Hanzo lands and seconds before the red lion crashes into the lamppost, the pole bending in half upon impact.

Worried murmurs and gasps erupt from the audience, starting to overtake the impressed cheers as a few people slowly approach the crumpled lion. The drum stops beating, the rest of the music coming to a slow halt.

Hanzo and Genji take a few steps back, staying under the cover of the costume.

“Oh my god!” “Did you see—” “Are they okay?”

A few seconds pass, and the red lion doesn’t get back up. A man, one of the parade organizers, comes forward, shouting for everyone to calm down with accented English. Another man pushes himself out of the crowd, before talking to the organizer in Mandarin.

The red lion twitches, and the immediate surrounding crowd gasps, taking instinctive steps back.

The broken pieces from the shattered mirror on its forehead fall to the ground as it jerks.

“On the posts,” Hanzo says, but his brother’s already running towards the raised posts intended for the lion dancing exhibition. He chances another glance over his shoulder, raising the cloth of the costume.

Another twitch, before the omnic stands at full height, looming over everyone as it stares back with beady green eyes. The other figure, hidden underneath the crushed costume stirs. The parade organizer approaches with visible hesitance, moving to kneel help before the figure gets up, head still covered by the red lion.

“ _BOB!_ ”

The outraged cry echoes throughout the street, silencing the crowd. The figure throws off the lion head, revealing livid red eyes and a shock of white hair. She points towards Hanzo and Genji. The omnic crouches forward in a runner’s stance, eyes unblinking.

“ _DO SOMETHING!_ ”

It stays in place for one second, two, before going into a destructive sprint, charging towards them with juggernaut speed.

Shrieks and cries fill the air as the people and omnics scramble to get out of its warpath, panic swelling when the woman brings out a semi-automatic rifle and fires once in the air.

Genji pulls Hanzo with him as they leap towards the next raised post, seconds before the omnic smashes the one they were stepping on into splintered wood.

A sharp crack reaches Hanzo’s ears, and he boosts Genji up to jump to another platform as a bullet flies past worryingly close, the woman’s aim now unimpeded by the costume.

Hanzo glances down. Bob rips off another post, gaining on them.

Genji leaps to the next platform.

The woman shoots again before Hanzo could jump after him, and the wooden pole holding up the platform shatters under the force of the bullet.

“Genji!”

He tenses his arms and digs in his heels, grip unyielding as he stops his brother’s fall.

“Oh my god,” he hears Genji wheeze out as he dangles midair, still somehow holding on to the lion’s head. Hanzo echoes the sentiment. It’s not the fall that would’ve killed him, but the gigantic omnic waiting ten feet below.

“Now, don’tcha move a muscle, Liu!” the woman calls out as she walks towards them. “Or I’ll have Bob here rip you apart limb from limb!”

Bob brings up one arm, and they watch with alarm as it reconstructs itself into an arm cannon.

Sweat gathers on Hanzo’s brow. His hold starts to slip.

“Slippery bastard, ain’tcha? You and your cousin,” he hears her smooth drawl come closer. “Hmph. Bounty huntin’s not normally within my purview, but Tiger called in a favor. And he did do me a solid, upgradin’ Bob.”

She stops right next to her omnic, gun slung over one shoulder. She looks up with a lazy grin, then blinks.

“Wait a fuckin’ minute,” her eyes narrow.

The lion’s mouth has been half-open this whole time. But even then, Genji’s faceplate should only be barely visible from that distance.

But she’s been manning a rifle this whole time, only barely missing even with a lion’s head obstructing her view. Sniper eyes.

Her face twists into an ugly scowl. She’d seen.

“You’re not Liu.”

She takes a step back, cocks her gun.

Hanzo prepares for the worst.

“Bob! Shoot ‘em do—"

“Freeze, don’t move!”

Cold wind blows out of nowhere, spiraling around them. Genji slips from Hanzo’s grip, and he lets go of the lion’s head, twisting his body to land sideward and dashing away from Snowball who is now creating a blizzard in the middle of the park.

Hanzo leaps away, as well, dodging the few shots Bob manages to fire before his joints freeze. He hears the woman screaming murder, her voice actually shaking in frustration. Or perhaps that’s just the frost slowing her limbs.

“This way!”

He glances downward and sees McCree waving them over from an alleyway.

He sticks his landing, easily rolling to his feet and sprinting towards him. Footsteps trail behind him, and he looks over his shoulder to see Mei with Snowball flying behind her and Genji with—

“Why do you still have that?!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Genji replies, securely tucking the lion costume beneath his arm before dashing past them to the front. “Just run!”

Police sirens echo in the distance, the sound fading as they run down the alley and into the night. Adrenaline courses through Hanzo’s veins. The black lion peeks at him from above Genji’s shoulder, moonlight glinting off the somehow unbroken mirror.

He lets out a chuckle.

Ward off evil, indeed.

“Hey,” McCree says moments later, quickening his pace to catch up with that same lazy grin.

“What,” Hanzo deadpans, turning a corner to follow Genji and Mei, “do you want?”

“Oh, ain’t,” McCree pants. “Ain’t nothin’. Just never pegged you as the type who dances,” he grins, wild and handsome when he looks at Hanzo. “Much less the kind with a lot of ass shakin’.”

Later, Hanzo will deny all accusations of him purposefully tripping McCree.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~i just wanted to write bob tbh~~
> 
>  
> 
> this was heavily inspired by a video I saw on my feed on how lion dancing looks like without the costume. it is awesome and you guys should definitely watch those.


End file.
